St. Joseph Province

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Our Spirituality

Prayer +

Prayer is the heart of our Dominican life. Prayer is about staying connected. It is guaranteed to bring about change. Why? Everything is seen in a new light! A prayerful community helps us see everything, and everybody, that surrounds us, including what's often overlooked as well as the obvious.

Community +

Community helps us stay connected with God. it gives us companions for praying and helps us remember what really matters - our own lives, and the life of everything else that exists on this planet.

Study +

The primary object of Dominican study is the Word of God, which comes to us through Scripture & Tradition, is interpreted authoritatively by the Church’s Magisterium, and Whose fullest manifestation is the very Person of Christ Himself. The purpose of Dominican study is to make us useful to the souls of our neighbors. It is a spiritual work of mercy aimed at facilitating a more effective communication of the truth that saves. While knowledge can certainly be sought for its own sake, study is all the more noble and virtuous when one is motivated by the dual command of love of God and love of neighbor.

Preaching +

Preaching is at the heart of Dominican life because we were founded to be “useful to the souls of others,” and we make ourselves useful primarily through our ministry to the Word of God. Our common life, our study and our prayer are all geared to support the vocation of a preacher. For us preaching takes many forms. We preach from the pulpit during liturgy and at retreats, but we also consider our teaching and various kinds of pastoral care to be ways in which we bring the healing Word of God to bear on the lives of those we serve. Our preaching ministry takes us to parishes, university campuses, retreat centers and sometimes even to food pantries, shelters for the homeless and other places where people are impoverished literally as well as spiritually.

“Jesus enjoined them, ‘Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” (Mark 8:14)

In today’s first scripture reading from the Letter of James we heard, “Do not be deceived … all good giving and every perfect gift is from above” and has the potential to bring about good or bad. The verse that I quoted above at the beginning of today’s Reflection is one side of the coin and we need to remember that Jesus, himself, used the word “leaven” to describe the Kingdom of Heaven. We know that if you just mix flour and water all you’ll end up with is matzo – flat bread. Put a little yeast – or leaven – in and you’ll get the dough to expand and cook into a large loaf of bread. But it’s important for us to understand how this works.

It’s a great symbol for life … and death. Fermentation is a process of the yeast rotting and, in the process, expanding into something much larger than it was at first. Leaven is a great symbol for life and death. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains just a grain of wheat.” (John 12:24) So why does Jesus warn his disciples to be careful to avoid the “yeast of the Pharisees?” I think the answer might be on the very practical: if we just let the yeast continue working in the dough – without putting it in the oven – it will continue to expand by the process of fermentation until it becomes just a blob of pungent, rotting dough. Good for nothing! In our first scripture reading from the Letter of James we heard, “No one … should say, ‘I’m being tempted by God’ … for God temps no one.” (James 1:13) God sets before us life and death and the choice is there for us to make. We all know people who have began to follow the Lord and then have become fanatical by taking the good leaven and letting it become vile and stinky. The Pharisees, in many ways, had started out to be the bright lights of the Jewish tradition but they let their enthusiasm run rampant and it no longer fed the people with good, sweat bread but became a burden to them too heavy and stinky to carry. Rules and regulations are important for most of life’s experiences but we need to know when the leaven has done its work … and stop it before it turns bad. Today’s Gospel is a re-cap of the “Loves and fishes” story and told to us again – as Jesus asks, “Do you not remember how many baskets of fragments you picked up? And we know the answer: enough for tomorrow and probably the next day, too! We’re reminded again and again that God not only takes care of us for today, but also provides for the journey. This Gospel ends with Jesus asking, “Do you still not understand?” (Mark 8:21)

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